Just something I came up with because I was thinking of a French friend of mine. I hope you enjoy it!
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Weasleys or the locations! (Although I did give Audrey the last name 'Hamilton' because it cannot be found).
La Bise
He knocked on the door of the neat little cottage. He looked over his shoulder at the sea and the waves it brought crashing onto the sand. When he heard the doorknob jiggle he spun back towards the door just in time for it to open with the storm door. Fleur beamed when she saw him, her blond hair free down her back without one of the grey hairs all parents were starting to freak out about. Her eyes the colour of lapis lazuli sparkled like diamonds.
"Teddee," she said. He smiled; Fleur was the only person in the world who called him Tedee. He just always associated that to her. Just like he associated Shell Cottage to sea air and warm food in a stomach that hurt from laughing because Louis was hilarious, and getting kissed on both cheeks because French people did that, and if Fleur brought any of that influence to her children, there it was. She opened her arms and he hugged her too. He also got that kiss on each cheek that he only got from a Delacour ever. La bise they called it. When they said hello, goodbye, or thank you, it was safe to assume Teddy would have a kiss on the cheeks.
"Hello Fleur," he said grinning.
"Victoire and Dodo are just down the beach," she said. "You might want to go join them unless watching Bill and I make supper seems interesting."
"Okay," he said. "About Victoire and Dodo, though. Thanks."
Both Weasley girls were bent over and retrieving things from the water and dropping them into plastic pails. He stopped near the water and wolf-whistled. They both straightened up and the one who stood tallest called after him.
"Come in here yourself!"
So Teddy kicked off his sneakers and socks, and wadded into the water, giving himself three seconds before just running at them.
"Teddy!" They said, both squealing away from the water he kicked up, being dressed.
"You called me," he said with a grin. Victoire rolled her eyes at him. She was wearing a light and airy white blouse that covered her whole back and was dotted with flowers, and jean shorts. Her blond hair was braided over a shoulder and her brown eyes glinted.
"You splash more than Mrs Dawson's dog does," Dominique complained, rubbing her nose with her palm. "And he has four legs and a tail like a windmill."
"Well I got a much warmer reception with your mother; I think I'll go back." Teddy said.
"No, don't go!" Dodo called, walking up to Teddy and standing on her toes, forcing his shoulders down so she could kiss his cheeks. She was two years younger than her sister. The Weasley and Delacour DNA had clashed with her, fusing hair colours into a very soft red, splashing freckles across her nose, and giving her blue eyes. Her shoulders were exposed and sunburnt even if she'd only been on summer holiday for a week.
"He wasn't going to," Victoire said.
"Well someone is sure of their own importance," Teddy said. Victoire rolled her eyes once more (it was an art) and she kissed him on the cheeks.
"Whatever Teddy," Victoire said. "We're looking for seashells."
"To sell them by the seashore?"
"Now aren't you hilarious. No; we've figured out how to turn them into candles and we want to make enough to last us through the summer." Victoire said. "Care to look?"
"Ooh, work. I don't know about that." Teddy said with a sigh.
"Well you might as well go back to the cottage." Dodo said.
"He's kidding," Victoire said. "Again."
And sure enough, Teddy was crouched down and looking for seashells soon enough.
When they heard the loud whistle that was Bill Weasley's and put Teddy's to shame (Bill had taught him how to wolf-whistle during an apparently memorable Weasley-Potter-Granger-Delacour-Johnson-Hamilton-Lupin family picnic after all), they hiked out of the water and raced back to the cottage, kicking up the sand that didn't stick to their feet.
Fleur made them wipe their feet on a towel that was at the door 24/7 before they sat around the table. Louis was off sleeping over at a friend from his house-league Quidditch team, so Teddy took the boy's spot by the window.
"Usually ze girls argue over who gets ze window spot. Really Teddy you are saving us a lot of trouble," Fleur said, standing beside him and loading plates.
A Shell Cottage family meal was much like a Burrow family meal. There were always, like, three salads, meat, something starch and warm rolls on the table- although Teddy thought that Fleur must use more magic to cook than Aunt Molly did because she spent virtually no time cooking since she hated it. She must also use magic to make the food lighter because Teddy had pasta salad, pear-turkey-cheese salad, duchess potatoes, a small army of mini-quiches, chicken with avocado and tomato salsa and buns, and he was begging for dessert along with the rest of the people around the table (chocolate cake with that right amount of icing that would give Gran a heart attack without giving him one).
After that he and the girls went back outside, and eventually he and Victoire lost Dodo to that book she'd been resisting the reading of since that morning. They climbed the cottage roof for a while so she wouldn't find them again, took the opportunity to practise magic without her snitching on them. They then climbed down and watched the sunset with the water up to their ankles.
At nightfall, Fleur called them inside since Teddy's instructions were 'home before dark'. Fleur sent him back with a doggy bag and a kiss on each cheek. Dodo was coaxed out of her room to say goodbye (which when applied to the Delacour girls included la bise) and Victoire did the same. He walked away from their house and past the boat shack their neighbours owned before dissaperating.
Victoire was curled up in an armchair. She was a total night owl, and so as people started filtering out of the common room she moved up to the more comfortable seats until she sat in her favourite armchair, the most comfortable in their common room.
Teddy had an Astronomy test the next night, and since he had no hope for the exams he was making every quiz count. Same went for Divination and Ancient Runes, and he had those tests lining up for the next few days like a queue in Honeydukes. He was staying up with her.
"Teddy," she said.
"Yes Icky Vicky?"
"Don't call me that."
"Well if that is all I shall return to my studies."
"No Teddy! I have a question."
He spun around.
"And what is this question?"
"It's about antidotes," she said.
"Antidotes?"
"Yes. Like, sixth grade potions? Golpalott's third law and all that?"
"Yes, I know what that is. What about it?"
"I don't get a single thing about it, that's what!"
And so Teddy put down the maps of the sky that folded out of his book and the manual to the telescope's newly introduced imperial adjustments that was in his other hand, and pushed her out of the armchair. She sat on the arm of it as he scribbled equations and graphs on parchment and circled parts of her book's text and wrote down notes to help her through. He talked her through it for the next half-hour before it finally made sense in her mind.
"So when they say that it 'will be equal to more than the sum of the antidotes for each of the separate components' they're talking about the amount of magic watts in each ingredient?"
"Divided by the ministerial classification of each ingredient on the PIC," Teddy nodded.
"Poisoned Ingredient Chart." Victoire said.
"Exactly. There you go, you have it Icky Vicky."
"Oh thank God," she said. "It makes sense now. I have a paper that I'll need to write in class tomorrow, and it's all about that."
"I'm sure you'll do fine."
She got up, gathered her books.
"I hope so. Anyways, I better go to bed because McGonagall is getting worried about my coffee intake and she'll call my mom." She said.
"Goodnight," he wished her.
"Goodnight," she said, and kissed Teddy's cheeks before swiftly turning and heading upstairs. Teddy's eyes caught on the exact spot where her hair fell- the small of her back- and the way her long Weasley sweater straight from the knitting needles of Molly Weasley went down to just above her jean shorts' rim, the way her hips swayed, or her steps hurried as she climbed stairs, and his fingers touched his cheek.
Two months later, Teddy had stayed up with Victoire many more nights although his test-spree was well over. She read, mostly; she'd curl up in the comfortable armchair that she'd beat Teddy to, wrap herself in her quilt, bring her legs close and not move until she finished the book or moved on to another activity. Wrote letters home to Bill and Fleur, and ate her stack of Fudge Flies in an environment where there was only one Gryffindor to tug at her sleeve and plead for some (and occasionally she'd even share with said Gryffindor). Teddy put up WWN most nights, and had spent enough nights with her to know just how high to put the volume without Victoire casting spells on his radio. Of course his sleep suffered, but –although to him saying it out loud was the weirdest thing in the world- he didn't mind having the rings around his eyes as long as he could jinx them invisible and stay up late the next night.
One day, she was looking up from her book all the time and she fidgeted more than usual.
"What's wrong Tory?" He asked.
"Me? Nothing." She said. She shifted her legs so that her toes pointed the other way. "But… Teddy?"
"Yeah Tory?"
"What do you…? No let me rephrase that… When a girl likes a boy, but she wants him to make the first move, what would she… do?"
His heart fluttered like mad and he felt warm all over.
"I'm not sure," Teddy said. "I had one girlfriend and she hates my guts now. But just go and tell him because if not he'll think you're complicated and you mess with heads and that's just dragon dung and hell to deal with."
"Oh," Victoire said. "Okay. Thanks Teddy, I've been nervous forever and Hattie says I should just talk to him in potions already…"
"Potions?" Teddy said. He stopped himself before he continued. We don't have potions together.
"Yeah, Jake's the only Ravenclaw in the OWL potion's class. Anyways, thank you Teddy. I think I'll sleep better tonight now."
Teddy went as slack as a rag doll and he felt his heart clench.
Retard. 'Course she wasn't talking about you. Of course not, of course not, of course not.
He felt something twist inside him. It'd always been so easy for him to apparate at Shell Cottage the second Fleur demanded he come over for supper and then sit on the roof and watch the sunset in the ocean afterwards, or when Victoire needed help with her summer homework, or when Dodo had to tell someone a story but everyone in her household had heard it over and over… It'd always been so easy to send a girl up into the dormitories to call her down when he needed to talk, or to find himself a spot on the bench next to her at meals. Had he thought that just because they were so close she was just his? That he'd one day be hers? He'd forgotten about all the other fish in the sea that saw her just as bright and shinning as he did. He'd forgotten to tell her he loved her before someone else did. He'd forgotten to tell her he loved her before she loved someone else.
As she said thank you, she leaned out of her armchair, her quilt falling off her legs and kissed him on each cheek.
"No problem," he said, "Anytime."
It's not like I've got another heart to squeeze to death.
Christmas time had finally come and so came the annual family game of how-many-Weasleys-can-you-fit-into-one-house?
The burrow might just burst like a balloon. Everyone was perched around different couches and chairs and poufs and the children were eating at places where children were not meant to eat usually, Rose and Albus could be found sitting on the staircase with Lucy, Dodo and Fred on higher steps. Roxanne, Molly, Hugo and Lily were off wherever Roxanne, Molly, Hugo and Lily were off to; James and Louis were trying to find something on their Christmas plates that the ghoul might enjoy. Teddy couldn't believe that that thing was still alive. Were ghouls immortal?
He and Victoire sat on the window seats in the room where Ron, Harry, Fred, Angelina, Charlie and Gabrielle Delacour could be found.
"So," Teddy asked. "How's Jake?"
Victoire picked at her potatoes as she swallowed. "Good. He wanted me to stay over at Hogwarts during the holidays, but I told him it was against Weasley regulations and sacred law."
"Oh yeah," Teddy said.
"He wasn't too happy, but he's going to be okay."
"Don't worry Tory; the turkey is excellent over the holidays." Harry called to them.
"Besides, what could I have done, not come home?" Victoire said, putting her hands up and smiling. "I mean, I don't think that would've worked, something would've happened in the cosmos."
"You've got that right," Ron said. "Although we stayed a few times, right Harry?"
"Four years," Harry said. "I think…"
"Right, the first year, the year where Hermione made that illegal polyjuice, the one where you got the Firebolt and we thought Sirius was out to get you, and the Yule ball."
"Ever hear of 'relaxing' for the holidays?" Angelina asked.
"No way, because the year after that Dad-"
Teddy and Victoire turned back to each other. "Anyways, he can't go home because his parents are going on a Mediterranean cruise. Other than that he's doing okay. Disappointed that I'm not cheering for Ravenclaw next game…"
"Well of course not, Slytherin has a horrible team this year; we need them to play against Gryffindor."
"It's what I told him," Victoire said. "But he's helping me out a lot with my flying."
I helped you with Golpalott's law, Teddy thought as Victoire went on to talk about some incident in which he'd charmed notes he'd lent her to sprout wildflowers.
"Your favourite," Teddy said. She nodded.
"Yeah, he's sweet. How about you? Not too nervous about your N.E.W.T? How's studying going?"
"Fine," Teddy said. "I'm glad you're okay."
"Me? Of course I'm okay Teddy. Why wouldn't I be?"
"Oh, I don't know. Because you're always busy lately and you don't stay up late like usual and I think you gave a Fudge fly to your sister."
Victoire laughed. "Those were from Jake. Guess it's the Christmas spirit, getting to me, hmm?"
"Must be," Teddy said.
He left with the Potters, after Gabrielle and Percy. Gran had gone to spend some time with a sister of Gramps for the holidays, and so Teddy was abusing of the hospitality his godfather put up for abuse (even if he could easily stay home alone).
"See you at Ron and Hermione's at New Year's," Victoire said to him, holding out her arms to him. He hugged her.
"Hopefully before that," he said.
"Bye Teddy." She kissed both of his cheeks and Teddy smiled.
As they walked to the apple orchard where people dissaparated from as a form of etiquette, Harry trailed behind Ginny and the three Potter children who were on the brim of candy cane overdose.
"You should wipe that grin off your face before Ginny spots it," he told Teddy.
"What?" Teddy asked.
"That grin; it's been on your face since Victoire kissed you on the cheeks." Harry said. "You know, the first time Victoire did that you were four, and you immediately started panicking and you ran up to me and tried to hide behind my legs because 'girls give cooties and dragon pox', and I am quoting you on this one."
"Yeah, well, I was like, four." Teddy said.
"Regardless, you seem to enjoy it a lot more now." Harry said. Teddy turned his head and saw Harry grinning at him.
"You're laughing at me! Ginny, this bloke here's laughing at me!"
Ginny spun around. "What do you want me to do, get him arrested? Come here Lily, give me your hand, love- James, don't make a fuss, just hold my hand for a second, you can't do it on your own. Harry, take Al with you."
And with that, they all dissaparated to 12 Grimmauld Square.
Easter was approaching and Teddy had been sent three Easter presents.
Molly Weasley made it her due diligence to have an enormous package which took most of the family's owls sent to Victoire –the eldest grandchild- every year, and she'd go and distribute the right egg to the right person. Even the year before Tory had gotten to school, Teddy had received an egg in the mail. Teddy's was the size of a human skull, filled with pink coconut ice and clusters of treacle fudge; but some of them were more elaborate, such as James' which hid a flying chocolate icing-winged snitch, or Victoire's, which was decorated with sea shells and dolphins cut out of cookie dough and filled with chocolate covered almonds and saltwater taffy. Dodo had been so proud of hers; a flock of eggs the side of a hummingbird's which followed her around until she ate them.
Gran's chocolate rabbit had new candies hidden in it every year, whether they were acid pops or Berty Bott's Every Flavoured Beans. Teddy hadn't checked yet, just in case they were chocoballs like last year. He rather wait it out until he was sure it wouldn't be something his classmates would swarm him for (which, knowing Gran, it would be).
Harry sent him a tube of small eggs which hatched small marzipan chicks which laid more eggs which hatched more chicks until they were so tiny you couldn't see them (and there was no way to tell if they'd ever really stopped). Needless to say, Teddy was everyone's best friend in the Gryffindor common room.
He'd gotten it especially sweet –which was a funny pun- this year since he had planned on staying at the castle over the holidays and take advantage of the quietness to study.
Most people were packing their bags or procrastinating their packing at this hour, ten minutes before curfew the day before the Hogwarts Express would leave.
Teddy was cutting through the Great Hall on his way back from the library where he'd met up with some friends in Hufflepuff to say goodbye when he heard fighting.
"Look, I told you, holidays is nearly sacred in my family," he heard someone say.
"Come on Tory, why don't you want to spend time with me?" Someone yelled back. Teddy froze, pushed a book in his bag and crept towards the opposite door of the Great Hall. He peaked outside and saw a beautiful blond girl arguing with a guy in robes, with a Ravenclaw Quidditch Captain badge.
"Of course I do Jake, it's just that-"
"Well we'd have the whole castle to ourselves, like we would any holiday."
"I know Jake, but holiday's always been about family for me."
"So I'm not as important as family?"
"Of course you are, but all the cousins have this Easter egg hunt at my grandparents and its great fun. I can't miss out, my family would be disappointed."
"They'd understand if you stayed for me."
"Jake, we're always together; just a few days won't hurt." Victoire promised.
"We could be around each other more, but you refuse to-"
"I don't refuse I'm perfectly allowed to go home for the holidays without your permission! I'm sorry, but I am boarding that train tomorrow." Tory said, backing away from the fight. Jake grabbed her arm and plucked her wand from her pocket, throwing it away.
"Jake!" She yelled as he pulled her closer.
Teddy dropped his bag, ran out of the hall, nearly tripped on Victoire's carelessly thrown away wand. He drew his own wand and yelled the first legal spell that came to mind.
"Relashio!"
Jake's hand jerked back as if he was stung, and Teddy hoped it hurt. He marched up to Jake and kicked him in the shins and pushed him down. The younger Ravenclaw sprawled on the floor.
"Don't you ever lay another finger on her, is that clear or what?" Teddy snarled at Jake. "You don't have a good reason to and not just her even if Tory's extra special, you don't have a reason to hit any girl. Don't you get how immensely lucky you are, you little part-troll weasel?" He snatched Jake's collar in his hand.
"She's going to go wherever she wants for the holidays and you're not going to give a dragon dung about it because in unspecific terms, you're not ever to go anywhere near her again lest you want to deal with me. Is that freaking clear?"
Jake's eyes sprawled and Teddy threw him back down. He hit his head on the floor and crawled backwards before flipping onto his stomach and running.
He heard movement behind him and he saw Victoire walk towards her wand and pick it up. She was sprawl eyes, her hair falling at either side of her face. She was wearing one of her beloved airy blouses that looked like butterfly wings on her, and jeans.
"Are you okay?" Teddy asked her.
"Yes," she said, although she looked pretty shaken up.
"I'll walk you back," he said. The silence between both of them was heavy as an anchor as they walked to the common room, and his anger was boiling with rage. He'd grabbed Tory. He'd grabbed her, he'd taken her wand away from her, and he'd been yelling at her- God, what would he have done more?
"Flabergastasation," Teddy told the portrait before the fat lady could ask him. He let Victoire climb in before him and then followed. The people in the common room were either squeezing in one last game of chess or exploding snaps or saying goodbye to their friends. About five Gryffindors had signed up to stay at school during the holidays, and two of them were Teddy's roommates who had reasons identical to his for staying behind.
"Teddy," she said turning towards him.
"It's late," he cut her. "And the train leaves early. You should go. Happy Easter, say so to your parents and Louis for me."
He climbed the stairs and flopped face down on his bed and screamed into his pillow. First off, because that's what he wanted to do to Jake, but the son of a harpy was already licking his rooms in the Ravenclaw living room by now.
Second off, because he'd told Victoire how to impress this guy, even if he hadn't realised it.
Thirdly, and this was the most painful part, because she'd picked this creep instead of him.
Teddy was pretty miserable for the duration of Easter holiday. He, Jonas and Flavius had a good time studying and procrastinating and eating Easter meal in the Great hall and chocolate and sweets everywhere in the castle, but the Jake affair had him on permanent rage. He'd seen the jerk in the hallway, but he'd shrunk away before Teddy could determine whether an engorgement charm or a bat-bogey hex would be more satisfying to cast.
It was the night after everyone had come back to the castle, and Teddy was sitting on the ground near the coffee table, staring blankly at his required Transfiguration reading. He didn't even register that at this point in the night, Victoire usually snuck back down with her quilt and her book.
She did, and she sat down on the comfortable armchair Teddy had left her. He hadn't realised he'd done that either, but he was fully conscient of the fact that she'd just walked by. He'd looked up to see her hair, which looked windblown as if she was still at Shell Cottage's beach, and she was wearing a long sleeved grey shirt and black yoga shorts she liked to sleep in. She curled up with her blanket as always, cracked the spine of her paperback and read.
Eventually Teddy heard movement and he assumed her first day had exhausted her although he hadn't spoken to her since she'd come back and that she was simply going back to bed. She sat down next to him and Teddy's highlighting-ink dipped quill froze on his spell book.
"Teddy," she said. "Can you… Can you look at me? For a moment?"
Teddy put down the quill as a bookmark, closed the book, and looked at her. That wasn't much of her to ask him.
"I just… Didn't get the chance to thank you for helping me. With Jake… That was brave and you were strong and the things you said… I… I think he might have actually hit me if you hadn't come along so just- thank you."
She leaned in towards him and he expected la bise as a thank you as per usual, so he held his head fine, but her lips went to his lips instead.
"You missed my cheeks," Teddy said after a babbled second.
"That wasn't la bise, stupid, that was a kiss!" She said.
"Oh." Teddy said. "I think I like that one better."